The Internet is the main cause of the recent explosion of activity in optical fiber telecommunications.
The high growth rates observed on the Internet, and the popular perception that growth rates were
even higher, led to an upsurge in research, development, and investment in telecommunications. The
telecom crash of 2000 occurred when investors realized that transmission capacity in place and under
construction greatly exceeded actual traffic demand. This chapter discusses the growth of the Internet
and compares it with that of other communication services. Internet traffic is growing, approximately
doubling each year. There are reasonable arguments that it will continue to grow at this rate for the rest
of this decade. If this happens, then in a few years, we may have a rough balance between supply and
demand.